First Nations University: ENGL 100 - Analysis of 'An Athabasca Story'

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of Warren Cariou's 'An Athabasca Story,' focusing on the character of the Elder Brother and the story's underlying themes. The essay delves into the Elder Brother's transformation from a vulnerable individual to a figure driven by greed, highlighting how he is swayed by industrialization and modernization. It explores how Cariou uses this character to depict the detrimental effects of climate change and the exploitation of the Earth. The analysis examines the author's intention to expose the dangers of industrialization and the consequences of unchecked greed, ultimately revealing the story's resolution, which emphasizes the Earth's resilience. The essay references scholarly sources to support its claims and provides an insightful perspective on the story's environmental message and its relevance in the contemporary world.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF “AN ATHABASCA STORY”
Analysis of “An Athabasca Story”
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF “AN ATHABASCA STORY”
Introduction
The issue of climate change and its adverse impact on the lives of the individuals of the
society has raised a concerning issue for over a decade now. Many books and articles have been
written to this effect so as to make the people aware about the extent of degradation that is
brought about in the community as a result of the prevailing industrialization and that of
modernization (Szeman 2017). However, no such literary article or book has perhaps captured
the imagination of the people as that of the story written by Warren Cariou (Mcholm 2017). The
purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of the character is decoded within the story
titled “An Athabasca Story” as written by Cariou in order to understand how he beautifully
captured the problem of climate change within his literary work.
Discussion
Warren Cariou started the story with a helpless portrayal of the character of the Elder
Brother (Cariou 2012). He is the main protagonist to the story. The story begins with the Elder
Brother being hungry and cold and has nowhere to go (Cariou and St-Amand 2017). Suddenly,
his gaze landed on a house far away which gave off the aura of being a warm place with lots of
food. Elder Brother tried to reach his destination but was obstructed by the owner of another
house on his way. He asked the man if he could get some shelter and food at his residence to
which the man replied in a curt manner that the Elder Brother was not welcome (Archibald and
Rae 2018). In reply to this, the Elder Brother asked permission to the owner if he could instead
use his house as a passage to reach his main destination. Again, the man rebuked him (Cariou
2012).

2ANALYSIS OF “AN ATHABASCA STORY”
In the course of their conversation, an important information was revealed to the readers.
The audience was made aware of the main setting of the story. He man said that they were taking
up all the dirt from the ground and manufacturing them in the big house, the main destination of
the Elder Brother (Cariou 2012). This would lead to the heating up on the Earth, which in turn
would ensure that no individual in the community would ever feel cold or disgruntled (Lorenzi
2016).
The Elder Brother was quite enthralled with this piece of information. He tried his
hardest to reach the big house in order to be a part of the process. During his journey, he forgot
about his own situation of being in a vulnerable stare and instead, decided to grab as much as dirt
he possible could with his own two bare hands (McCall et al. 2017). As a result, he started to
claw his way in to the ground on which he was standing. During this situation, Cariou gave a
voice to the ground which cried out to the Elder Brother, asking him to stop what he was doing.
However, in the story, it can be seen that the Elder Brother refused to listen to this voice, and
instead carried on with his excavations. A point was reached when he was satisfied and tried to
come out of the tunnel which he had dug by himself (Whetung 2019). During this time, he
noticed that he was already waist deep in the tunnel and had no means of coming out if he did
not let go of some of the dirt collected.
He decided to make two trips instead of one and let some of the dirt fall from his hands.
However, then also he could not come out of the tunnel (Cariou 2012). Afterwards, he let go of
everything and called out to the voice from the sand which he had previously ignored. However,
towards the end of the story, it can be seen that the Elder Brother could not come out and had to
meet his own demise (Cariou 2012).

3ANALYSIS OF “AN ATHABASCA STORY”
In this story, it is important to notice the character which Cariou had developed in the
process. The transformation of the character of the Elder Brother from a helpless and cold
individual to that of a selfish and greedy person was due to his hunger towards modernization
(Cariou 2012). The character was therefore, weak and could not control his own greed. He was
easily swayed by the wordings of a stranger and tried to improve his life by the way of
modernization and taking recourse to industrialization (Cariou 2012).
The intention of the author has been made quite clear in the story in spite of bit being
underlying in nature. The author has sought to bring to the fore front the evils of
industrialization. The character of the Elder Brother has been portrayed in such a manner so as to
show to the world what happens when an individual is swayed by greed (Cariou 2012). His
strength lied in his innocence. The Elder Brother was only in search of something which would
provide him comfort and some food. (Cariou 2012) However, when he got to know about the
miracle of industrialization, he could not control himself and subsumed to its evil. In the end, his
character was able to find resolution in the understanding that no matter the extent of greed of
the people, the Earth always found a way to take back its own belonging (Cariou 2012). This has
been shown quite implicity within the story of “An Athabasca Story”.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be observed that the story titled “A Athabasca Story” talked about
the perils of climate change which occurred as a result of the process of modernization and
industrialization. The character of the Elder Brother has been imagined in the manner in which
the individuals of the society are really like in the contemporary world order. Cariou had the
main objective of showing to his audience what would happen in the event that they continue to

4ANALYSIS OF “AN ATHABASCA STORY”
carry out the process of exploitation of the world in the same extent as what it is being done
today.

5ANALYSIS OF “AN ATHABASCA STORY”
References:
Archibald-Barber, Jesse Rae, ed. Kisiskâciwan: Indigenous Voices from where the River Flows
Swiftly. University of Regina Press, 2018.
Cariou, Warren, and Isabelle St-Amand. "Introduction Environmental Ethics through Changing
Landscapes: Indigenous Activism and Literary Arts." Canadian Review of Comparative
Literature/Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée 44.1 (2017): 7-24.
Cariou, Warren. "An Athabasca Story." Lake-Journal of Arts and Environment 7 (2012): 70-75.
Lorenzi, Lucia. "Creative/Collective Resistance." Canadian Literature 228/229 (2016): 246.
McCall, Sophie, et al., eds. Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island. Wilfrid
Laurier Univ. Press, 2017.
Mcholm, Taylor. "A Formal Spilling: Leaking and Leaching in Warren Cariou's Petrography
and" Tarhands: A Messy Manifesto"." Western American Literature 51.4 (2017): 429-
446.
Szeman, Imre, and Dominic Boyer, eds. Energy humanities: an anthology. JHU Press, 2017.
Whetung, Estrella. "Sovereign Traces, Volume 1: Not (Just)(An) Other." Transmotion 5.1
(2019): 329-330.